Coil shooter

ABSTRACT

The invention uses a propulsion mechanism in the form of electromagnetic force by current flowing through conductive material, a loaded spring or compressed air to expel a string attached to a strong adhesive, removable surface. An edge attached material allows the adhesive to be fired through a barrel onto surfaces it will adhere to and allow the user to pull on objects from a distance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Grappling devices have existed in the form of hooks and hook-likeprojectiles since the basic concept was thought of However, theirconvenience is limited by their weight, need to be thrown or propelledby a relatively great force and requirement to latch onto a certainshaped object (or penetrate the object) in order to adhere to the objectand allow it to be pulled, or to pull the person whom is using it. Analternative is to use a strong but light string with a strong andremovable adhesive attached to it, in particular a gecko syntheticadhesive which can be made light enough to be propelled by simple springor compressed gas mechanisms, or otherwise by electromagneticpropulsion. The resulting device allows the user to latch onto virtuallyany surface with a low weight projectile that can then be used to pullthe object towards the user, or to allow the user to swing/pull/lifthimself or herself up.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention uses a propulsion mechanism from of electromagnetic force,a loaded spring or by compressed air to expel a string attached to anadhesive, removable surface. This can then pull objects from a distanceor otherwise allow for grappling functions. The adhesive material usedis a gecko synthetic adhesive that can adhere with great force but beremoved with less force by pulling at an angle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 shows the body of the invention, with the projectile launchingtube (in a hollow rectangular shape for this embodiment), a possibleextra section that may be used if practical for operation, and a springloaded piston which could be put in place of the section at the back ofthe open end of the projectile firing portion. It also shows holes inthe projectile firing part for the string attached to the projectile togo through and for gas propellant to be attached to, a possible holderfor gas propellant, a gas propellant canister, a spool for the string, aservo and a recoil pulley.

FIG. 2 shows the projectile (where the adhesive surface is cut in asquare shape), the string attached to it, and the rail gun part whichmay or may not be used depending on its practicality.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, 1 (FIG. 2) identifies the adhesive front ofthe projectile component of the device. The adhesive is a geckosynthetic adhesive (GSA) designed to adhere strongly to a surface withhigh van der Waals forces when pulled by a string attached in themiddle, while being able to be pulled off by pulling the surface at anangle, that is, pulling on one side with more force than the other.These adhesives may be constructed from different materials, such asmaterial that is either or both or a string/tubular/spatula shape at themolecular scale and/or bunched into micrometer scale rectangularprism/cylindrical columns of similar width. Additional forms of the GSAthat is likely more practical to use are draping adhesives, such asstiff fiber material combined with elastomer or rubber material designedto have conformal contact and adhere to various materials, andthermoplastic material nanoscopic fibers. The fabrication and design ofthe GSA is not covered by this patent, but it is used as the adhesiveprojectile. Depending on the characteristics of adhesive strength,removability, versatility on rough surfaces, reusability and ease ofcleaning the material, a certain GSA material will be used for theadhesive part. This GSA must be able to adhere strongly with limitedapplication pressure while being able to be pulled off with far lessforce by uneven pulling (pulling on one side of the material harder thanthe other). Depending on how the GSA material is manufactured (1, FIG.2), such as by chemical vapor deposition or lithography, the adhesiveand the layer of material it is manufactured on can be attached to alight but strong material such polycarbonate, or the GSA may bemanufactured on the polycarbonate. In order to prevent the projectilesurface (1, FIG. 2) from turning in the barrel (13, FIG. 1), theprojectile is produced with thin material located at the edge of theprojectile, on the other side of and perpendicular to the adhesivesurface (2, FIG. 2), shown for a square shaped adhesive surface in thedrawings. This edge protruding material also allows the user of thedevice to hold the material and pull it off from an angle. Twoalternative means of preventing the projectile (1, FIG. 2) from turningwhile being fired are making it in a concave shape or with a hole in themiddle, however both of these designs may add to manufacturing costs, sothe design with the perpendicular material is more likely to be used. Astrong but flexible and light string (3-A, FIG. 2) made of a materialsuch as Kevlar should be attached to the middle of the backside of theprojectile (1, FIG. 2), threaded through a hole in the back of theprojectile barrel (3-B, FIG. 1), and attached to and wound around aspool (4, FIG. 1). The spool can be put on a shaft (5, FIG. 1). Thestring can be rewound manually, by using a servomotor (6-A, FIG. 1)where the end of the motor shaft that can be shaped to fit into a holeon one side of the spool (4, FIG. 1), or by using a small recoil orrewind pulley (7, FIG. 1). The servomotor or pulley (6-A or 7, FIG. 1)can be slid into place to rewind the pulley (4, FIG. 1) on a track (6-B,FIG. 1). In order to propel the projectile and string (1,2, and 3-A,FIG. 2), a trigger activated gas canister, such as a CO₂ canister (8,FIG. 1) can be put in a holder (9, FIG. 1) behind the barrel (13, FIG.1), where it will be attached to the hole in the barrel (10, FIG. 1)which can have a small tube that ensures the gas will only go into thebarrel. In order to make sure the gas doesn't leak out in anysignificant quantity, the string hole (3-B, FIG. 1) must be very closeto the width of the string (3-A, FIG. 2). The hole for gas propellant(10, FIG. 1) should be close to the hole for the string (3-B, FIG. 1).Although it will reduce the pressure of the gas propellant (8, FIG. 1),a small midsection (11, FIG. 1) can be produced and attached to thebarrel (13, FIG. 1) if the force from the gas canister (8, FIG. 1)causes the projectile (1 and 2, FIG. 2) to bend to a significant amountwhen being fired, if this makes the projectile last for longer.Otherwise, in place of a trigger operated gas canister (8, FIG. 1), aloaded spring may be used for propulsion (12, FIG. 1), which would be inplace of where the possible extra section could be (11, FIG. 1). Thebarrel (13, FIG. 1), which has been previously mentioned, is shown for asquare shaped projectile surface (1, FIG. 2), and thus is the shape of ahollow rectangular prism. The length of the barrel (13, FIG. 1) dependson the acceleration needed for the projectile and string (1, 2 and 3-A,FIG. 1) and whether the length used is a practical size for the device,and like the exact size and weight of the other components, must bedetermined from tests of different dimensioned models. The barrel (13,FIG. 1) has two sets of lines in the middle section of both sides, whichindicate where the electromagnetic propulsion rails (14, FIG. 2) couldbe manufactured, so that they resides inside the walls and can contactthe railgun conductive material (15, FIG. 2). The conductive materialcan be inserted through the middle of the projectile extensions (2, FIG.2, indicated by dotted circles), so when a power source is connected andactivated, electrical current will flow through the rails (14, FIG. 2)and the conductive projectile (15, FIG. 2) and propel it and theadhesive and string (1,2 and 3, FIG. 2) by electromagnetic force. If itis practical to keep the device in good condition, a thin layer ofthermally insulating material can be placed around the rails and theconductive connector (14 and 15, FIG. 2). Ultimately this device shouldbe able to propel a removable adhesive surface with an attached string,which will attach to objects with a great amount of force, but beremoved with relative ease, so as to enable the user to easily pull onobjects with great force from a distance.

1. The apparatus comprising; a propulsion mechanism, which propels awound string, and an adhesive pad with an edge attached non-adhesivesurface of material perpendicular to the adhesive surface and extendingin the opposite direction to the adhesive surface, through a barrel anda rewinding mechanism.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said adhesiveis a gecko synthetic adhesive.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidpropulsion mechanism is the release of gas from a trigger operatedpressurized gas canister.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidadhesive pad is propelled by an electromagnetic force from currentthrough a railgun.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said adhesivepad and string is propelled by releasing a high tension spring.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein said adhesive pad is cut in a concaveshape.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said adhesive pad has a holecut in the middle.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said string isrewound by an electric motor.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidstring is rewound by a pulley.